A Strange Visitor

It had been a long time since he had the house to himself. His family had gone out of town for a visit to relatives’ place. In a house bustling with kids and many members it was difficult even at best of times to find a quiet corner to enjoy one’s own company. Umesh had been looking forward to it. He planned to have some quiet time in his own company.

He had assembled drinks and snacks on the table. He had bought a very highly rated mystery book recently, but never got around to reading it. There was no need for another companion. He poured some drink in the glass and opened the book. The first sentence itself got his attention.

She was cowering in the corner of the room when there was a loud knock on the door.

 

The book and the drink both had his attention. He made himself more comfortable on the sofa and settled for enjoyable morning.

As he took first sip from the glass, there was a sound of someone knocking at door. He was not expecting anyone. For a while, he thought his mind had visualised the knock on the door from the novel. He decided to ignore it and tried to refocus his attention on the book.

However, after a lapse of a few seconds there was another knock. This time he could not ignore it and put the book and drink down. He regretfully looked at the cosy seat before abandoning it and walked to the door to check on the intruder.

The man at the door was virtually a skeleton but seemed to carry himself with dignity. So he could not pose any danger. He was wearing a dress which must been fashionable a long time ago. Perhaps he had come to ask for alms. Since he was in good mood, he put his hand in his pocket to extract some money.

Before he could take out the money, the man spoke, “I know you must be busy, but could I come in. This land used to belong to me.”

It was a clear indication that he was not a beggar but a man who had fallen on bad times after losing his land. It was a story common to many people, who after coming into big money after their land was acquired by the government, had splurged money on luxury.

He still looked at the man carefully to detect any sign of threat, but could not detect any. He opened the side gate and invited the man in. If the man wanted to feel nostalgic for some time, who was he to deny such small pleasure to him.

After the man was comfortably settled on sofa, he offered him the drink, who declined it stating that he had stopped drinking a long time ago.

Before he could realise, the man was telling him his life story.

“I was not a rich farmer, but not poor either. My land was sufficient for my family’s needs and I made good money to meet other needs by selling the surplus produce in the market. Some time later, the government decided to set up a city and acquired my land. The compensation was good. They gave me a flat also, although I had some other land also.”

He looked at the man, indicating to him to continue.

The man looked at his drink, then his gaze shifted to the book he was reading.

“Well, there is not much further to the story. I splurged the money on luxury items. Soon there was a time, when I had nothing. My own family kicked me out of the flat.”

He asked, “How could they kick you out. It was your flat.”

“No it was in my son’s name. Perhaps that was one good thing I had done, otherwise my family would also have been on the road. I was angry, but now I realise that my drinking habit was pushing my family towards penury.

I became homeless, yet whatever money I got from people, I spent on drinking. My health deteriorated as I had to go hungry most of the times. I slept in parks or on the roadside.”

Umesh was moved by the man’s plight.

He said, “You still look famished. Shall I offer you some food and money?”

The man replied, “These things are meaningless to me now. Anyway, thanks for listening to me. I can see that my land has been put to good use by the government and nice people like you are putting it to good use.”

With that he got up. As Umesh got up to open the door, he turned his back towards the man. When he turned back to let the man pass through the door, he saw that nobody was there. The man had vanished, although there was no other exit other than the main door.

He wondered how the man could have left without him noticing it. The google search revealed that the man had lived sixty years ago. He could even locate a newspaper story about many people, who after coming into sudden riches, had lost their money in a matter of few years. There were many photos of such people. His eyes focussed on one particular photo, it was of the same man who had visited him earlier in the day.